2009/02/23 by Erica van Herpen, Rik Pieters, Marcel Zeelenberg · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · Neuroscience · Mathematics · #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment #Bandwagon effect #Scarcity #Uniqueness #Threatened species #Economics #Product (mathematics) #Slow growth #Appeal #Microeconomics #Advertising #Business #Market economy #Psychology #Social psychology #Mathematics #Law
paper · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2009.01.001
openalex publication_date 2009/02/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
Abstract Consumers generally prefer scarce products, which has been related to their exclusiveness. Currently scarce products, however, are not necessarily exclusive, but could be scarce because many other consumers previously bought them. We propose that consumers also prefer scarce products in this situation, which an appeal to uniqueness cannot explain. Three experiments support our predictions and reveal that scarcity effects even occur when consumers only see traces of others' behavior through emptied shelf space. Furthermore, this bandwagon effect disappears when uniqueness is threatened due to others in close spatial distance.